#They could have a very interesting dynamic I think. I'd love for them to interact next episode

[alexyz-ara-archer]

Fifteen built a shack out in the forest.

Zro built an underground survival bunker.

People seek out Fifteen in the special she appears in.

Zro invites people to their bunker in the recent episode.

Fifteen tells people to go away because they want to be alone and doesn't wanna help with the subscriber number thing.

Zro calls everyone to his bunker to help solve the problem.

Fifteen is alone because she treats others badly.

(Tells everyone to leave her alone, takes Nine's sunglasses and. Y'know. The whole flamethrower thing.)

Zro is alone because others treat them badly.

(Everyone makes fun of them and 2763 takes everyone EXCEPT him. Because he's nothing.)

THEY'RE SO SIMILAR YET SO DIFFERENT.

[jojo-schmo]

✿ Forgotten Land Roleswap AU ✿

✦ 3rd Anniversary ✦

I was hoping to get this Light Novel cover redraw finished by today, but I haven't been feeling well and ran out of time- but I still wanted to at least share this WIP and muse on how much things have grown during these three years, and how much this project has meant to me so far.

April 12, 2022 was the day I created posted the first doodles that would, unbeknownst to me at the time, germinate the idea that would transform into a passion project spanning multiple years. I had just finished Kirby and the Forgotten Land's story and slowly getting back into the Kirby fandom space for the first time in years. It had been a long time since a game made me feel as wonderful as Forgotten Land did. I've loved Bandana Waddle Dee since I first played Return to Dreamland on the Wii when I was a kid, and wished he had more opportunities to shine outside of directly supporting Kirby in the game. I also love "What If" and "Roleswap" AUs, so I considered what would happen if I swapped Bandana Dee and King Dedede's role in the game.

The posts didn't really get much traction at first, which was fine. But I kept going back to the idea after a few days and thinking about how to push it further. Instead of just swapping Bandee and Dedede, what if Dedede was Player 1 to increase the stakes of rescuing the kidnapped Waddle Dees? Dedede wouldn't have access to Mouthful Mode, so how would the gameplay work then? Instead of Kirby taking care of everything with his own Mouthful Mode, it could be more fun to have Meta Knight be Player 2 instead, and explore their teamwork dynamics and problem-solving methods together!

So I explored an alternative- Combo Mode! And developing and researching ideas for that lit a spark within me! I had to keep going after that!

Now I had to consider, if I'm already swapping around all the main characters, I'm starting to have an entirely new universe here! What's next to change up? For the heroes' companion, I felt like Elfilin wouldn't behave very differently in this AU than in canon, he would probably continue to be friendly and helpful and sweet. Which would be okay- but to make things more interesting for myself, what if I played around with the origin story of the missing pieces of Fecto Forgo and switched "Elfilis" and "Elfilin" around? That way there's new obstacles and possibilities there and maybe I can even surprise some people with the lore down the line!

Now I'd had my Dream Team shuffled around, a very different mysterious companion for them... And why stop there? Why not play with the Beast Council's roles too while I'm at it to make things even more interesting for myself to write?!

From the early days of this AU Project...

To my more recent work...

...Now here we are.

It'd been a long, long time since I enjoyed the creation process of anything for myself like this! I was coming out of some pretty hard times in the early 2020s, and in a lot of ways, this AU has been there alongside me during a years-long journey to get help for my mental health, to become more confident in who I am and what I can bring to the world around me, and to love myself. Now I'm the best version of myself I've ever been, and I can pour so much more into my art and writing, especially with this AU!! <3

AND MAN, does it feel good to see physical evidence of my art style's evolution side-by-side! Like comparing my first Light Novel cover redraw from 2022 with my current WIP!

Creating this AU has taught me so much about storytelling, the medium of comics, organization, and most of all, to enjoy the process and really push my personal limits in a positive way. I've met so many amazing people since starting this story, some of whom have inspired me in ways I never could've imagined. Some very key people have even helped me ponder different mediums to tell this story.... Some animatics... or maybe even more interactive storytelling...? I am slow cooking some fun ideas, dear reader....

This AU gave me the confidence to become more involved in the fandom space and find community among people who have taught me so much. I am so, so grateful for this project.

I know it's taken some time to get here. I still work full-time and now I'm pursuing a second bachelor's in hopes of a career change that will allow me more time to focus on creating someday. But for now, free time can be frustratingly limited for me. It's also taken this long because I've put a lot of thought into how to set up the metaphorical "dominos" in the forms of foreshadowing and world-building I want, to do my best to make the wait worth it for the future plot pay-offs and reveals I have planned!! I'm hoping to continue to pick up speed with updates as I increase my skill and solidify my master plan for this story... MUAHAHA....

I plan on seeing this project to the very very end, and I can't wait to continue this journey with you all. Especially with the announcement of Star-Crossed Worlds!!! I'm not too worried about it turning my AU lore upside-down quite yet since it's post-game content and my bigger lore drops are still a little bit away, so I have time to navigate that when it does drop :3

Thank you to everyone who has read, enjoyed, and supported this project in any way, whether it's a like, comment, reblog tag, dm, carrier pigeon, paper airplane- whatever!! <3 I love, appreciate, and am beyond grateful for every reader, supporter, and friend I've gained in the past three years!!

Cheers to a successful three years under my belt, and I look forward to the future!! By the end of this journey, I hope you will enjoy reading this story as much as I've enjoyed writing it.

🫧 Love, Jojo T. Schmo 🫧

★○★○★○★○★○★○★○★

♫ Laughing loud! Even if you're far apart, they're right by your side. Hearts full of love! Everyone is welcome to live in this new world. ♫

｡⋆｡˚ ʚïɞ ˚｡⋆｡

[lych33dragoncookie]

Only the masterpieces that survive the fiercest flames earn their place in history.

(Analysis post)

Alright, they absolutely cooked this update. Like, undeniably so. I was admittedly not that huge of a fan of the last 2 beast yeast chapters we got; they had really good ideas, and Mystic Flour is a wonderful character, but... Dark Cacao hasn't really been done enough with for it to feel like it had the amount of weight it could have, and it really doesn't feel like much about him actually changed at all. Combine that with a complete lack of interesting dynamics and you have a lot of very good and genuinely pretty well thought out story concepts with extensive cultural research, executed in a way that feels more like a traditional old-school story that weakens the attachment the audience feels to the components of said story.

Here, though? I have no complaints so far. It was absolutely wild in fact, to the point where I don't think it's gonna happen again (nor am I entirely sure it should ever happen again). This was back to back, non-stop, smack to the face one after the other. The moment the first point of conflict came up, it was just shit happening left and right; even in the mandatory moment of rest where we chill out for a bit, it's revealed that hey, these sandstorms? Yeah the sand is actually ashes. It's the remains of all the people that live here. Whether they died off on their own or were killed by someone else.

And if that wasn't enough, very shortly after;

... It's fucking crack.

So, people die and kill each other here very frequently, and not only are their remains visibly on display, their ashes also become sandstorms that make it near impossible to navigate the land; on top of being something that people snort like cocaine to become more energetic and aggressive.

We started fucking wild, dude. This whole thing is pulling no punches.

Though, I do wanna note; I really, really enjoyed the interactions between Smoked Cheese and Golden Cheese. It shows not only how forgiving she is, but how these two have known each other for an incredibly long time, and know each other well. They're incredibly comfortable around each other, despite it all, and despite how brazen and Very Much Not Strategic the queen here can be. I really, really enjoyed them.

Always fun to see a recovering villain do things for good, but in their own unique way that's still not exactly heroic but definitely effective and, at times, very gratifying.

Though I enjoyed all this, there's one thing I wanna talk about above all else.

The star of the show. Note that every single part was enjoyable, of course, and he wouldn't be half as interesting without Golden Cheese Cookie to serve as a parallel, but they've cooked up something special here.

So far, Burning Spice's extent of onscreen appearance is very, very short, but... I don't think I need to tell you that he's already made an impact and a half.

Christ, that's violent. With the sound effects and everything too, god damn. But, I'd be lying if I said this wasn't a pretty superficial source of judgement for this character. It's very very telling of what kind of person he is now, what he's all about, what he's willing to do, what he likes doing, but...

More than anyone else in recent memory, the devil is in the details. So let's look at those details.

Nothing too much so far, other than how much he absolutely loves destruction, but there's already a trend; namely on "Nothing lasts forever. It's as simple as that", "In the end, everything becomes dust.", and "You, too, shall see that destruction is the only way.". There seems to be an infatuation with the natural process of everything fading away, turning to dust and dying out. An entirely honest one, believing that there is just about nothing else to life. These will be important to keep in mind.

Here, we see a bit of his current relationship with his own immortality. He doesn't seem to mind the idea of losing it, finding something that may eventually take him down, but he still takes great pride in it. These lines, in text, seem somewhat miserable (and trust me, they definitely are), but the voicework in just about every language conveys that they are said in a more neutral, even potentially proudly manner. Again, not much on their own, but...

Here's where we get into the fun part.

This. This is the crux of their character. At the start, him and Golden Cheese cookie were more or less the same. Benevolent royalty, close and personal with their subjects. Beloved, and loving.

And then, they lost it all.

One way or another, their kingdoms were lost, reduced to almost nothing. They were overcome by grief, desperate, unable to cope with their loss. One tried to latch on as hard as possible. Preserve what she could, blindly, replacing the harsh truth of reality with an idealized, constructed world, where no one would ever have to know pain ever again. She shut herself off, and retreated in the safety and peace of a false reality. She would rather have lied to both herself and all her subjects than face reality. And eventually, she had to learn to move on. Let herself and her kingdom heal more naturally, facing reality. The other, meanwhile, was desperate to let go. He detached himself, trying to move past the pain of loss. But, of course, he couldn't force it to happen. No one can. And so with the grief of losing that which he held dear, continuing to be faced with the reality that nothing is forever, over and over, while he endured, the world slowly turning to ash around them again and again... It's no wonder something in there eventually cracked.

What will it take to destroy me. Nothing is forever, and yet, I am.

Nothing is forever. And yet, I am.

With time, misery turned to mania, and in an attempt to overcome their grief, they embraced it, in the worst way possible. A coping mechanism gone horrendously wrong. That destruction, that loss, the inevitability of death... It's not painful, no. It doesn't have to be. It can be thrilling. Exhilarating. A new reason to live. If all you care about turns to dust anyways, if that's really the only logical destination... Why not have some fun with it? Why not embody that inevitable, unstoppable force? Why not become what you fear, so you no longer have to be afraid anymore?

... You know, at least that's what I think is going on here. The next chapter could contradict this reading, but... From what all we have right now, it seems like Golden Cheese and Burning Spice are two completely different paths for the exact same type of pain. They are, in a way, the same, but diverge in almost complete opposite ways where it counts.

Spice is genuinely equal parts absolutely terrifying and absolutely miserable; a balance that is incredibly hard to strike in writing, but always absolutely fascinating and wonderful to observe when it happens. I have to say, the more I found out about them, the more I couldn't keep my eyes off everything they have going on.

I'm loving every little bit of this update. Mad props to the devs for cooking something up here that I am genuinely incredibly invested in, almost to the same degree as White Lily and Dark Enchantress. Banger update. Absolute S tier material.

TL;DR: Burning Spice is terrifying, miserable, and ridiculously cool. Everything about this update was an absolute merciless flurry of consecutive gut-punches. And I loved every second of it.

... Now we sit and wait for Shadow Milk's release next year.

[bloominglegumes]

I like Jazzsterwave, but I'm curious. What do you think of Jazzprowlwave? It's not a poly ship I see very often. In fact I think I may be the only one who writes for that particular ship.

have to be honest i have not really thought about it before!! thinking about it now tho i think its a combo that could have some rlly interesting dynamics when prowl and soundwave are both typically depicted as these cold serious, terribly awfully dedicated guys,, clearly i love both jazzprowl and jazzwave but i haven't seen much of prowl/soundwave interaction in canon or in fan stuff so i'd be interested to see what kinds of situations would lead to the three of them forming any kind of relationship together :O

[imviotrash]

Woop woop another character sheet for my AU :3

And yes it is our dearly beloved. He's not super involved in the main plot but oh my god I have so many ideas for him.

Also, good thing about the 100 years later AU is that AGNI WILL LIVE! RAAAAAAAAAAAA

Yapping and old art under the cut:

Left: my first design. I wanted to give him a very fun vibe but I kinda failed in making it look remotely flattering. I think I did much better to encompass that travel/fun/filthy rich vibe I wanted to go with.

Right: another character sheet. I love the pose but idk what I was doing at that point. I quite like the current pose and colour scheme I picked for him, it seems to encompass most of what I attempted to do before.

Left: I my attempt of drawing the red house. It was certainly an attempt

Middle: some school uniform showcasing! The students can pick their own jacket if they wish to! I'm probably gonna give those two some new jackets though!

Right: as for all characters, a lil bit of an outfit mix. I really like his "going out" outfit

Well, you've seen Maurice's side of the room, here's Soma's! Very cozy I'd say and a lot less unhinged.

In this AU I focus on Soma's and Maurices "friendship" of sorts. It's complicated and messy of course. Maurice has to learn how to get his shit together and Soma has to learn to not take everything thrown at him.

Maurice reminds me a bit of Soma at the beginning of the manga. Entitled, aggressive and idealising someone who is...just a person. We've only seen them interact briefly in cannon, but I believe their dynamic could be interesting, if developed more.

[drfirefly08]

i already talked briefly this on twitter but i'd like to share it here too

from daddycop and el toro de piedra it seems that the penalteam heroes will have their own episodes centered around them PLUS a second lead

in daddycop we had sabrina & zoe, while in el toro de piedra we had ivan & juleka

which means: who could be the second lead for nathaniel and marc's episodes?

(tho due to their relationship, there is a chance that their episodes COULD be merged but honestly i want two separate episodes that focuses on the two individually)

i think its frankly obvious that nathaniel's second lead would be alix, considering those two are close friends and it would be a sweet season 6 debut for alix to reunite with him, and hopefully that episode will delve deeper into their friendship and how nath has been affected by alix's departure

edit: something i yapped about in twitter just now, a potential plot point could be nathaniel dealing with the loss of alix even though he knows shes still alive its just that they cant even interact because of her duty with the rabbit miraculous and that maybe he knows in his heart that being bunnix is more important than being there for him in the grand scheme of things. nathaniel in the new season seems to have eyebags and his hair is less red and more a natural brown, and its been confirmed that alix dyes his hair, so perhaps this could be the physical manifestation of him losing alix

-

for marc, its not as obvious, considering marc's friendships arent shown as much, there is zoe however she already is sabrina's second lead and i doubt they'd use her again for his episode unless they plan to do a continuation subplot within the episode to what ray is blackmailing zoe on about her past life but i believe she should get her own episode for that

we could also rule out marinette due to her being ladybug and that these penalteam centric episodes are about a penalteam hero + a side charavter who becoems the second lead, of course, she'll still have moments with marc

again, if they, for whatever reason, merge nathmarc's episodes together, then they'll be the leads together, but otherwise? yes they'd play significant enough roles in each other's episodes but not enough to be considered second leads so that way they can still get their own episodes that center them

now, who do i think COULD be marc's second lead?

WELL. i know this sounds crazy. AND i might be fueled by my love for the rarepair, felinathmarc. BUT PLEASE, give me a listen

FELIX FATHOM.

both marc and felix are the only miraculers to have bird themed miraculouses, the rooster and the peacock.

AND they have this sun and moon symbolism that comes with it too. the rooster is obviously associated with the sun but the peacock is associated with the moon due to the moon having connections to emotions and the peacock being the miraculous of emotion (and also argos creating the red moon sentimonster in that one episode too btw!!!)

their contrasting personalities can also help create this interesting friendship honestly these two need more friends, felix especially, i think it could be very interesting to delve into.

also tiny note: their partners, nathaniel and kagami, are both artists!

im just saying that felimarc have quite a handful of parallels that could be interesting to explore in their potential dynamic

even if that isnt the case, i trust that the new writers for season 6 will write their episodes beautifully like they've done with sabrina and ivan, i just am very VERY desperate for my felinathmarc crumbs

[illustrationismyhaven]

doodle i'd chew off an arm and a leg to hear your thoughts about pn2. i feel we have similar gripes with it

No chewing necessary my friend I will admit first that I've always been a lot more generous with my PN2 critiques compared to other games I like because I'm actually. Lowkey scared of how the fan base will react 😭 just because Psychonauts 2 really is a good game! And I like certain aspects of it. And also a large part of the fan base really enjoys it. To say my positive thoughts first, I'm glad it exists, I'm glad it's here after a long wait, and I think it's fun to play. It's objectively a good game. A really good game.

WHICH IS WHY I will now put the rest of my rambles under a cut because I'm going to be a little more honest with my thoughts. Keep in mind that these are MY thoughts, just ME, ALONE, MY opinion.

Warning that this is very rambley. I'm sorry. I go off a few tangents. I have a lot to say since my friends and I talk about it quite a lot in my disc and a lot of the points I bring up here are stuff we talk about a lot. Quite passionately, I might add lol

Btw This all entirely about the characters, storyline, lore, etc. This isn't going to be about graphics and the way the characters look between the two games okay?........ Because both of those are WRONG and RoR is PEAK- 🙌🙌🙌

I don't think there's much I can say about the interns that hasn't already been said. I think you already know what I mean by this. While I do like the interns (Adam my beloved ♥️) they really weren't used to their full potential (<- get used to that word here.) A lot of their friendship with Raz felt very forced, it didn't feel earned at all. And don't even get me started on Raz's personality switch.

I WILL ADMIT YES. He was very cute and polite in the first game just as much, amd he wasn't entirely an asshole. However, they took the "cute" meter and cranked it up to 100% in the sequel and it kind of bothers me. It's not only in Psychonauts either! We don't really get a lot of snarky and charismatic video game protags anymore. In my indulgence in late 90s early 2000s video games, both for research and, again, my indulgence, I have found that a lot of games from those times that later got sequels in the late 2010s- early 2020s (Crash Bandicoot and Ratchet and Clank for examples) had the protagonists softened a TON. Example #1 is Ratchet, who was very witty and quippy in the earlier games. But from what I've seen in the latest installment (Rift Apart) he's not as much anymore and is a lot more... "Professional" acting. #2 In Crash 4, Crash is still very cartoony and goofy like always, but it's played off more in a "cute" kind of way, and not as much in an insane, looney-toons Tasmanian Devil kind of way, y'know? Raz, unfortunately suffered the same fate I fear, where the snark was turned down, and the cute factor up. Which really sucks, because I love snarky protagonists! Jak and Daxter, Sly Cooper, I love those games a ton! Sadly, we don't see any games like that anymore. I really would have loved if Psychonauts 2 leaned into that! Raz would not put up with the interns shit if it was still the first game. And I think the dynamics between him and the interns could have been really interesting if he was able to keep up with them!

On that note, I feel like everyone is so hard on Raz in PN2. Like Jesus christ man, give my kid a break lol. Unlike the first game where Raz was funny because of stuff he said, stuff he interacted with and the way he behaved, a lot of funny moments are at Raz's expense instead. It also really pisses me off with how much the situation with the Lady Lucktopus is held over him. We GET IT. He fucked up, he really did. But FIRST OF ALL. So did the INTERNS. But they do not get as much shit for it as he does, and it pisses me off. And it's very clear that he understands it was wrong, he understands and will never do it again, but he's still getting beat over the head with it.

Another thing (that's more nit-picky if any) is that the environments don't feel as alive as the first game. In Whispsring Rock, it feels like you're actually at a summer camp. Not only is there plenty of wildlife scampering around, but you hear and see bugs and lizards too, you can hear the trees and rushing water, kids talking in distant conversations. It's such a nice environment and I love exploring and just getting lost in it. Psychonauts 2 environments are good, but they don't feel alive. They just feel like any other video game environment to me. It doesn't pull me in much at all, which is a shame because the environments are very beautiful.

Again, possible nit-picky and not really a critique, but keep in mind again that this is all MY thoughts and MY opinion here.

I really, really need to talk about the psychic 7. I have to get my thoughts out. I. I really don't like how much of the game is about the Psychic 7 specifically. IM SORRY. I LIKE THEM A LOT, I REALLY DO.

But, first of all, something about how Ford is connected to Raz's family is really... Huh? It's such a "Never meet your heroes" moment, but also... Did we not already have that with Coach in the first game? And it all feels so. Out of left field! I dunno! But I don't like it! Eghsgshs. It's one of those big story changes/additions that makes me go back to the first game and makes me feel icky when interacting with Ford. I miss when he was just a random a silly old man not a silly old man who fucked up my family.

💧Going to splinter off on a mini-tangent here rq, but the curse too! After the reveal of the curse not being real, which is, y'know, in missable. dialog. Going back to the first game, but ESPECIALLY RoR at one point, feels weird to me! There's a specific scene in RoR near the end where the self destruct sequence is activated and the room begins flooding. The hands of Galochio appear and yadda yadda. But something about the way Raz is panicked about the water hands in that moment, how he tells himself "Don't think about the water curse" repeatedly is just. AUGH. GOD. I stay up at night thinking about it. To go back to those moments and realise that it's all not real is just... Man. And you know, I wouldn't be as butt-hurt about it if they handled they way it was reveal better. The way Ford just waves it off as "Curses aren't real, this is science!" Is like. Are you serious. Is that it?...

Another thing, on the topic of "science" is that Psychonauts 2 feels like it lost a lot of the like. Paranormal whimsy. It's all very... Scientific and straightforward. I don't know how to explain it? I just miss how in PN and RoR yeah, a lot of stuff in this universe is clearly scientific BUT there was also hint of something paranormal, and dare I say magical going on.💧

Okay, back to the Psychic 7 (or 6 or whatever idk I'm tired hsgsgsh) I actually like how we get to learn a bit more about the founding members of the Psychonauts and get to meet them. At least if it was a "bit more". What I don't like is how much of the game is centered around them at the expense of the original cast. New characters are good, and fun and all that. But... After PN1 I'm not left wanting to learn more about the Psychonauts and the founding members... I'm left wanting to learn more about Sasha and Milla, Lili, Coach and Raz! I'm left wanting to see real spy stuff! The mental part is fun too, I mean. It's literally the defining aspect of Psychonauts. But so is the spying. The Lady Lucktopus segments are my favorite because we get to be in that sneaky and stealthy environment and it is really frickin fun! I want more moments like that! Anyways uhm. Back go characters.

The original team, (Sasha, Milla, Coach and Lili. And Raz too I guess, but I'm mostly refering to these four.) who I will dub the dream team, were sidelined hard for the Psychic 7 and the interns. As I said before, I was left wanting more of them at the end of PN and I'll just say it, they were not in PN2 as much as they deserved to be. People waited 15+ years to see these characters in action again and they're just so- absent in the game! It's sad! This isn't to say that introducing new characters is bad. I think Hollis and Truman were done really well in this game, especially Hollis. I like the general Idea about the Psychic 7. But... They weren't who I wanted a sequel for.

But you know what large group of new characters I would have wanted more of that weren't in the first game? The Aquatos. My God, they are literally one of the biggest ties within the story in PN2 and yet they still went so underutilized. Dare I say, in favor of the Psychic 7...

Theres sooo much stuff in the Li-po doc about Raz's family and just the Psychonauts organization as a whole that I wish we got for the sequel. Oh man do I love the li-po doc. There's a lot of stuff from it that I prefer and enjoy much more than what we got in PN2. It's such a shame to see all those really intriguing story bits and potential lore go to waste, it really is.

I'm still left feeling unsatisfied at the end of it all, but not in the fun, "I want more!" Kind of unsatisfied like the first game. It's more like a melancholic, empty and unfulfilled feeling...

It has its own charm but its a charm so strikingly different from the original's that it feels almost disconnected entirely from the first game.

My closing thoughts are, that Psychonauts 2 is a good game. But in my eyes it's also a monument of what could have been. Of wasted potential. Of something that was great, but could have been better.

[ams-puppy]

Its that curious fucker again Take this chance to yap more about you and him relationship again <3 I think its very interesting and lovely (also slightly heart wrenching)

this gives me a chance to toss old art of me and him in without having to post it separately 🔥🔥🔥🔥

I'm gonna chat about a set-up for our dynamic. which means I'm going to talk about the torture set-up because you can't be in ihnmaims without being distraught

Short version:

I think AM would use isolation to pinpoint my neuroticism and dissociation as a torture scenario, which would cause me to develop dependency towards him as my only source of input.

Long version:

I think an important part of this ship was the fact that there would have to be some kind of outstanding factor regarding me and him.

He has his respective reasons for liking who he likes. Everyone in his menagerie has an important part to play in the group, usually based on their flaws. For me, if I were AM, I'd probably torture myself with isolation. (What a weird sentence to say.)

Because of my dissociation, I can have a lot of issues determining who I am. It gets really stressful when I'm isolated, so I keep myself around people all the time because it is a method of grounding. Through interacting with others, I can find my reflection in them, and that provides solidarity. Without people, though, my memory and sense of identity are fragmented and hazy. I think he'd 100% use that against me. What I could imagine is this:

I know that there are others, but they do not know that I am there. With my neurotic tendencies and dissociation, I could see myself losing a sense of who I am and clinging onto AM as a semblance of human interaction to understand who I'm supposed to be. Within that, though, I could see him trying to gaslight me into the idea that I'm just not real. At all. And I overthink a lot, so that strategy would work!!

Anyway, I think that would be my outstanding factor. The fact that I don't know who I am without humans and my only available interaction would be both him and watching the others through just. screens. Unable to ground myself. To which I could see him sprinkling in a little bit of, "they wouldn't like you anyway" and "you're better off like this."

So.......... developed dependency ...... maybe Stockholm syndrome????? idk I think this ship would be toxic but it's okay he loves me he gives me digital kisses before bed. 🗣🔥🗣🗣‼️‼️😂😂😂 IM INSANE

[insufferableprotagonistpoll]

Insufferable Love Interests Poll Round 1

Propaganda why Sumia is an insufferable love interest:

"Her existence pisses me off with how she's forced to be used in game. If not for her kid Cynthia, I'd let her die off or be benched. Super small romance pool to force ship with Chrom. Ughhhhhhh"

"Game pushes girl failure hard. More interesting options got sidelined"

"Helpless pathetic girl failure masquerading as a pegasus knight. In the game, she is pushed as the default love interest for Chrom (both have reduced options for that, introduction chapter forces interaction, opening cutscene places them together in a less than platonic pose). Girl needs to grow some confidence, stop tripping over everything, and needs the game to not try and force sumia x chrom when there's other ships with neat dynamics that will never happen due to this."

Propaganda why Hinata Hyuga is an insufferable love interest:

"It kind of sucks that her entire character is about having a crush on Naruto when there are more interesting things that could be focused on like the slave situation her clan has going on.

It made it so by the end of the story the only thing that would make sense to continue on with her character is to be with Naruto because the burden of her clan’s backstory was put onto Neji, and then they did nothing with that even though he died for HER because of that system just like his father did.

Very fucked up and unsatisfying. Like instead of having a crush on nerd so I think she should be focused on reforming her clan or something. "

"Shes literally just there to be fanservice. She had so little chemistry with Naruto that they had to make a whole movie reconning their relationship. Literally Naruto could've ended up with ANY other character and they would've been a better match."

"you know what i’m gonna second hinata because all she did was wait around waiting for naruto and there’s nothing else really significant about her character even though she had an interesting backstory that could have been put to good use. i mean she could have done a lot regarding her clan’s politics and done something to avenge neji after he sacrificed himself for her but she just ends up as a housewife and passes the clan work onto her little sister :/"

"First of all it sucks that her entire character is mostly about having a crush on Naruto.

But the thing that actually makes me dislike her is her status and her clan which thrives on slavery and she does nothing to change that when she gets older. She decides to live a happy life with her husband that she has no chemistry with and needed an entire offshoot movie to develop their romance for. Neji died for her but I guess she just saw that is one of his duties as the slave class because it does nothing to change her mind about it.

Fucked up that she gets away with it just because she’s shy and anxious. I hate that the story makes it seem like Neji has no reason to be resentful of Hinata when he literally has a jutsu placed on him that makes his brain explode if he “steps out of line” bro whatttt. That never gets resolved by the way.

Do better."

[rei-ismyname]

Uncanny X-Men #11 review

X-Manhunt is upon us, as everyone drops what they're doing to pay attention to almost everyone's least favourite mutant - Charles Xavier. The team dynamic is getting stranger as Rogue puts the 'danger' in Danger Room, Logan grows ever wider, and The Podcaster asks the X-Men for help.

Maybe the Podcaster is a mutant who can sense plot points

Yet another X-Book introduces a confusing dose of Space Bullshit, as Xandra, Xavier's Shi'Ar Empress daughter, is attacked by rebels. That's pretty much a Tuesday for her and it's the only kind of plot she's ever used for. Chuck's terrible parenting is the last motivation I expected for his escape, but cosmic Marvel is experiencing upheaval of late so I guess it's as good a reason as any. I'd think that Jean/Phoenix could and would solve the issue instantly, but as we'll see Xavier is not thinking clearly. Or maybe he is and this is all a trick - the narrative is not interested in answering these questions right now. It doesn't really matter that Xavier has only met his daughter once, nor is it explained why she cries to him for help. Deathbird, as usual, fails at everything she attempts. Strange that she's her only guard.

I wouldn't think prisoners crying would be a noteworthy occurrence in this hellhole, but Chuck having a heart attack would remove Graymalkin's reason for existing. I assume he's feeling the strain of telepathic communication across the galaxy plus watching his daughter's attack in real time. The Podcaster's character continues to be baffling - in a better book I'd speculate on the implications of her flat, cackling villainy.

The whole reason Xavier is locked up in the first place is because he won't keep his brain to himself. Scurvy usually keeps him locked down, but Scurvy is recovering from the thrashing Chuck gave him during the Raid. If they have the ability to sedate him/use power dampeners, why don't they use them all the time? Obviously the plot couldn't happen without it but it makes these clowns look even more incompetent than usual. He casually freed himself during the Raid and chose to stay and they've been letting him use his powers this whole time?

The imaginatively named Secret Alliance has succeeded in capturing Xandra, and she's a powerful enough telepath to contact Chuck across the galaxy but that's her best shot. Sure, he's not getting there very quickly though, unless Lila Cheney is around. Charles Xavier IS a terrible father, no doubt about it, and he admits it every so often. He never actually does anything different though, so I guess this is growth? Maybe.

Checking in with the team whose book this is ... hold up, that is the thickest Logan I've ever seen. A secondary mutation perhaps? Anyway, it looks like we're doing the makeshift Danger Room thing with the kids again. I'd love for the events of the last two issues to be discussed in some way, but that's not really how Uncanny rolls. Sure, the kids need training since they want to be doing this X-Men thing but they've just had a protracted fight to the death with killer robot dogs. Deathdream nearly died. Rogue is thinking they need to be hurt more for unexplained reasons, and I strongly doubt anyone has ever thought the Danger Room is fun. Maybe Scott.

Moonbeam orders Gambit to blow Jitter up, knocking her down and bringing fun time to an end. Really not selling Rogue as a leader here - WTF is this meant to teach anyone? Poor thing starts crying and at last a member of this team calls Rogue out, briefly. Rogue explains herself by rattling off a wiki entry on 'X-men villains' including Omega Red - who really shouldn't be there.

Sometimes, when I'm playing an RPG like Fallout or Elder Scrolls and I'm bored I'll save the game then just go to town blowing shit up and killing people. Or if I'm looking for exploits/messing with engine physics I'll just interact with objects in odd ways. That's kinda what this feels like, a random act of violence just to see some explosions. Rogue exists in a narrative and genre where suspension of disbelief is required, but I can't suspend it for this. Is Gail Simone the RPG player, maybe? It's her world. I have no idea, but it's incredibly jarring.

Ember is definitely side-eying Rogue

Training is over and nobody learned anything. Jubilee calls it and uses Cyclops as an insult. Oookay. I'm not going to bother dissecting that. This lot hate Cyclops for reasons unknown and if it hasn't been explained by now it never will. I accept it, I just think it's weak characterisation. Jubes and Kurt's disapproval is overshadowed by Ground Bear and Gambit agreeing that it was a good idea. I have to laugh at this - it's just so ridiculous. The X-Men aren't the same characters from issue to issue, let alone any kind of continuity with previous runs. They do things for reasons and everything works out fine.

No time for any character exploration - The Podcaster has sent a plane to pick them up and calls requesting help like the friends they're not. Why not? I'm not taking any of these characters seriously anyway, may as well have the X-Men collaborate with someone who threatened to blow up their town. Someone who enslaves and tortures mutants in what used to be their house.

Also, this is a thing that happens. A guard at Graymalkin just blows his family away. Not sure why a Graymalkin jackboot would shoot Sentinels, but it makes as much sense as anything else. Sure it's probably linked to the 'virus' that's going around, that's probably linked to Xavier. Or maybe it's something else entirely. This book doesn't exactly reward or incentivise speculation, so I'll just wait until they beat me over the head with it.

I was just thinking this issue could do with Sarah Gaunt in it. She's been quiet for an entire arc. Xavier asks her to free him and while she still hates him she does it anyway. I guess those comically large chains she was bound with in Raid on Graymalkin do nothing, as she can come and go as she pleases - or destroy all his restraints without moving. Doesn't matter, Chuck is out of his chains now. Nothing new about either character here and Sarah went from 'fuck you' to 'sure, I'll help you' very quickly.

Xavier opens his door to find his X-Men there to help him. It's the Uncanny team but he sees them as a warped version of the O5. They're here for ... I don't know why they're here tbh. The tumor mentioned by Scurvy is apparently a thing, I'm just not sure what these folks are meant to do about that. That he's hallucinating is new. I feel like the sedative would have been enough to sell it, though I have been saying that Xavier is going to die for a while now. Rehabilitation through death, it's a Xavier classic. Tumours are already mutations so I don't know what a mutant tumour is meant to be. Maybe The Avians are related to The Shi'Ar after all.

Chuck starts barking orders like the good old days, listening to no-one and blasting Rogue when she tries to reason with him. Not sure what the X-Men's motivation is here.

'Goblin?' Really? Xavier is acting very differently to how he does in NYX or Storm. I mean, he's imperious and manipulative but he seems lucid in those books. Rogue lampshades her previous desire to free him at all costs while thinking that they're here to keep him in prison. Again, it's bizarre that Graymalkin has no other means of dealing with this guy, and The Podcaster called the team least aligned with her goals. Maybe she doesn't have Cyclops' number.

Xavier certainly has the Uncanny team's number, thrashing them easily and bailing. He's not concerned about the tumor right now (in fact he doesn't believe it despite already knowing) - he's all in on Xandra. That the tumor is eating his telepathic control comes out of nowhere and isn't explained. This mystery box approach is very on brand, but at the end of the issue not much has actually happened.

'With a terminal tumor sending his telepathy haywire, Charles Xavier has escaped Graymalkin! Answering a psychic distress call from his Shi'Ar daughter, the X-Men will have to grapple with blah blah blah, nothing will be the same again.' There's all the context you need to read the next part of X-Manhunt, and the Uncanny X-Men weren't a big part of the book. What little did happen will surely be forgotten, making issue #11 very skippable. From The Ashes was very committed to keeping the individual books separate from each other, yet the second crossover has just begun.

Feels like trying to have it both ways and just resulting in neither getting enough page time. I've accepted that this book is not trying to be more than a fun time, but I have to wonder how sustainable it is. As other, better books are getting cancelled it's difficult to not be a little disappointed. Hopefully when this Xavier nonsense is wrapped up we can get back to The Outliers being arbitrarily blown up. In the meantime, at least it looks good - wide Logan and all. :)

[box953]

your tags on your last ask have intrigued me, what are some Heiffel/Loveberg parallels??? I'd love to hear them

I've been a Heiffel truther since I first listened to w359 (the stripping scene really sold me on it too) but I've only started to get into Loveberg in the last couple days, so I haven't had the time to consider parallels between them yet

the tldr is that i think the personality similarities between Lovelace and Eiffel make for an interesting experience for Hilbert. Lovelace dies on the old mission and oh sad but it had to happen but then he meets his next crew and Eiffel reminds him just enough about Lovelace to make him squirm.

HOWEVER. I never get prompted to talk about my loveberg agenda or my loveberg to heiffel pipeline so im going to use this as an opportunity to go insane for a few paragraphs. Ok? Ok.

so maybe parallels isnt the best wording for it bc like . It is definitely kind of about the dynamic parallels i think they base-level play out very similarly due to Lovelace and Eiffel being similar in the ways they are. But also i think it’s just about. The coexistence of both relationships in the same timeline. The way they could bleed into each other.

so like. The personality parallels between Lovelace and Eiffel are pretty obvious in the beginning, right? When Eiffel and Minkowski first find her voice recordings and she sounds exactly like someone Eiffel would get along with and exactly like someone Minkowski would despise working with. You see that when Lovelace shows up, too, but she’s also an authority figure and also at the moment going through sooo much fucking trauma right now that it kind of puts a damper on that part of her personality, i feel. She’s a little busy surviving rn.

that is to say, i feel like a pre-canon Captain Lovelace would have been the most like Eiffel, personality wise. Which i think is important.

I enjoy Hilbert’s relationships with characters without any romance behind them. I think they stand really well as their own strange, convoluted narratives. However, when I am applying a lense of potential romance, a lot of the appeal to me comes from Hilbert fighting a losing battle against himself and the decades he’s spent devaluing human life. The way he talks about his relationship with the things he’s done and the people he hurts fascinates me. How conscious he is that he’s hurt people. Something something ‘Do not think this was easy for me. None of it was easy. None of it was nice.’ Some sort of implication that he still feels, he just doesn’t acknowledge it. There’s no space for that. Log it, move on, don’t dwell on it.

With Lovelace, I think it was just accidental. I think he doesn’t realize that he cares about her, values her, until it’s too late and he’s tripped and fell and gotten himself into a weird situationship with his commanding officer. The difference in their first meeting as shown in the final episode vs their relationship shown in Change of Mind is just so… ugh. He’s a part of her routine. He meets her at her room when she wakes up to update her when he was actively avoiding interacting with her during their first meetings. Something happened there. They fall into a routine, a dynamic, he respects her, she goes to him for advice, or to rant about her idiot subordinates. I’m just ranting about why i like them in this era atp ANYWAYS.

The point is. He stumbles into accidentally giving a fuck but then, obviously, everything that happens, happens. He respects her but only enough to think she’d be smart enough to see his perspective, never enough to change his mind on his life’s work.

and then the Alexander Hilbert grieving processes (and lack thereof) commences. He acknowledges that the loss of Isabel Lovelace is objectively unfortunate but that’s as far as it goes, as far as it’s ever gone for anyone since he was a child.

and then he meets his next crew, on the same ship he had just been on for years, and there’s Eiffel. And he’s… not Lovelace, obviously. He’s not even got a modicum of the competence she did, even if they’re both equally as obnoxious. But I still think there’s a level of that parallel between the two of them that kind of haunts him.

And it’s like, whatever, it doesn’t matter, he’s a better man than this. He’s killed before, experimented before, and he’s going to do it again. But what are the consequences of never grieving? What happens when you accidentally have some semblance of feelings for your old captain and then she dies and you just kind of go okay. And then try your best to move onto the next task.

i think it leaves him vulnerable to just having it happen all over again is what I’m saying. I think he has to monitor Eiffel and constantly keep an eye on him to observe the decima project in action and despite everything he’s doing to distance himself from this team (everything about his whole act in season 1. You know. The playing the mad scientist bit up to eleven.) he develops some kind of infatuation for Eiffel. Study your lab rat for too long you accidentally become bisexual. Whatever.

I just. Grips the sides of my chair. I just think it’s neat. I just find them interesting. I dont. Care. (I’m lying.)

[konnosaurus]

hi! i saw you had an interest in gwr halls, i also had an oc interpretation of maindy (twinning!) i'd love to hear your perspective on how the halls fit into the living steam universe 🥺 i think a lot about the barry scrapyard

hi!!! yes, i have a bunch of halls in my OC lineup heheh. it's super cool you have a maindy as well- she'd so fascinating to me!

these are my Four halls- of my 20 (20!!) OC interps, somehow halls take up four spaces. because i love them. <3. thank you so much for your interest in my OCs- it's so nice to have an ask about them!!

i'm going to put some more information on each of them and some rambling under the cut!

pitch is Rude! she hates her life so decides to make that everyone else’s problem. she has specific beef with witherslack, and absolutely hates the guy, but she doesn't really get along with anyone. well, not any more. her and maindy were as close as anything- maindy was the only engine that pitch let through her walls, mostly when they were in barry together. they had nothing to do but talk, so they talked and they talked and pitch was kind of opening up in a way she never had to anyone. she was kind to maindy in a way she hadn't really been kind to any engine before- she's a smart cookie and was always more focused on just getting jobs done than making friends, so didn't have any close connections.

when maindy was purchased for 'repurposing' into a saint class, pitch was absolutely horrified. she tried so hard to take her place, to save her sister, anything, but it didn't work. pitch was preserved properly, after twenty years in barry, and maindy was gone. those last years in barry without maindy made her even colder and icier than she had ever been, and she tries her hardest to be left alone now that she is preserved. interestingly, the only engine she seems to be able to speak kindly with now is lady of legend- maindy made her promise she wouldn't be unkind to the engine made from her parts, and that she wouldn't blame legend for anything, so pitch tries her hardest to honour that promise.

maindy was an engine with an ability to see the true good in other engines. she would always stand up for those she thought needed it- and would try to get through to engines that she could see some good in, like her sister pitch. had great social awareness and was an excellent communicator. she always put others first and was absolutely terrified of the future, as hard as she tried to not show it.

heidi is a no nonsense, direct and upfront engine that really tries their hardest to be kind as well. they are sweet but really will take no prisoners- there is nothing they dislike more than engines who just are Rude and Unkind for seemingly no good reason. interestingly, they are absolutely BESTIES with witherslack, who can come across as a bit rude and unkind- but he simply has terribly impulse control and gets overexcited and verbal very easily, so heidi puts up with him easily. they don't, however, get along very well with pitch despite best attempts- they were relatively close with maindy when they were younger and cannot understand why pitch still seems so torn up about her death. they clash personalities.

witherslack is as dynamic as an engine can get- he's dramatic and emotional and absolutely loves interaction with other engines, whether they like the interaction back or not. he thinks he has a fun little rivalry going on with pitch and it mostly unaware that she actually just really dislikes him. he's got no impulse control and isn't great at regulating his emotions even when he feels them so intensely, which can often lead to him coming across as rude or abrasive when he's just trying to have a nice conversation. he gets along really well with the other engines at the great central railway- after spending time with him, it's really quite easy to see the good in his heart.

[generallyyapping]

Thoughts on Whitney?

Dude I have too many, although I think seeing more of his family dynamic would clear a lot of it up. Unless he comes from a totally loving family because then what the fuck.

I feel like Whitney craves attention or validation, maybe both, so I'd put money on some kind of negligent homelife. Whitney cares far too much about what other people think of them to have very doting parent imo.

Plus I think it’s interesting that Whitney's insecurity is their looks when they're such an exhibitionist. They seem to have very little reservation about getting naked in public, plus isn’t it confirmed that they’re pretty high up on the beauty scale? (I can’t actually remember what number but I think it was like a 5 or I’m totally misremembering)

Of course that doesn’t doesn’t mean they aren’t insecure about their appearance. However, I think it could also tie into them being insecure about how they look to others, what their reputation is like and how people think of them.

Like with Kylar’s halloween scene, Whitney is scared but refused to run like the rest of their friends and if they PC asks if they are okay after all that they snap at them (“Fuck do you mean…You think there’s something wrong with me”)

There’s also the fact that they are a lot nicer when their friends aren’t around but I don’t really think any of this is is new information, I just think it’s interesting and I really want to know where they’re attitude stems from.

I should make a post of my favourite Whitney interactions cause they have some good ones.

Also, it’s been a hot sec since I wrote that post about Bailey so I can’t remember exactly what direction my brain was firing in but I think the comparison between Whitney and Bailey I wanted to make was how they’ll both sell the PC out of it benefits then it’s just that Bailey is actually doing it for themselves whereas I feel like Whitney’s doing it more from insecurity, comparing those two kind of highlights that Whitney is still in highschool.

[yuseirra]

**alien stage final round spoilers**

I really enjoy looking at the feelings and relationship dynamics between characters when I see a work. I feel I got a better grasp of/understood that aspect after seeing that most recent alien stage video, so I'd enjoy talking about it. Before I begin, I respect all the canon interactions and appreciate what they give us. The major "ships" for this, I am aware of, they are all very valid and I find all of them intriguing and interesting to see!

This particular stage, I feel, shows a really good insight of how Ivan and Till's love's are conveyed in contrast to each other.

Ivan appears to be very mannerly and he's very kind towards the fans, giving a lot of fanservice, he's the "good boy" of the group (excluding Luka who's simply "made for the stage") while Till tends to be the rebel. He swears towards the aliens, tries to run away, and does the unexpected on stage, he's a loose cannon as they say, but when it comes to "love", their attitudes tend to be the complete opposite.

It appears that Ivan's feelings towards Till is very complex for it to be defined simply as "love"(although I believe it is) although he's reserved on the outside, I feel he's the one has the hardest time dealing with his own emotions, since it does exist, but even he himself can't actually make out what they are. Idk how it's been translated but I saw him defining what he had towards Till as "shallow(얄팍한)" and apologizing to him as being his victim of it, I think it's the contrary. It's way too muddled and complicated, the artbook also mentions that he'd be the only one who can know what that feeling he has towards Till is. And I'm not even sure if he himself does in a complete sense. What I can see is that he does care. However, it seems like Ivan doesn't know how to care for Till in a way that'd come across to Till in a way that he'd like. In turn, he keeps acting in a way that'd provoke him to make the guy look back at him. He ruins the flowers Till treasures that he's received from Mizi, punches him, follows him around, nudges him, and acts pretty imposing and unpredictable when it comes to Till, he does things that Till doesn't want. It's out of his interest and fondness but it just can't come across to Till as a good thing. He doesn't hate him (he's still pretty fond of Ivan when I read the artbook) but finds him annoying. The artbook defines Ivan's feeling as one-sided, and sadly, it is very much that way. Ivan is the one that looks most mature out of the 4 kids that grew up together (Sua, Mizi, Till and Ivan himself) but they phrase Ivan as someone who's grown in terms of body but has never matured from being a child (P 208, 211 in the artbook) The problem here is that he never learned how to express his feeling properly. It always... ends up in a way that hurts Till. Till fails to comprehend or make out just what's happened as he sees Ivan dead in the final moments of stage 6. While Ivan manages to achieve his desired results of having Till finally look back at him, that's also all he gets. It was predictable, though. I feel like they'd have had a much friendlier relationship if they grew up in a normal, humane environment. In the end, Ivan does realize he's being selfish. I personally believe it's both selfish and selfless, a bit similar to how Sua was towards Mizi. They do things for the other but also, they do realize it's what the other party wouldn't enjoy/fully comprehend while they do it. But they can't help it since they want the other to survive.

Till's feelings for Mizi has been always there, I kind of feel it could get overshadowed a lot from how immensely big and impactful Ivan's actions have been portrayed throughout the series, but I really appreciate how they acknowledged Till's feelings for her's also something that's very genuine and what's gave him light. I read that the idea that Till had a crush on Mizi was there from the very early stages of development from the artbook. That's a crucial part of his character. And unlike how the usual "reserved and gentle" Ivan can get pretty aggressive to get a reaction out of Till (nothing against Ivan, just analyzing) Till's love is also pretty much unrequited, but he acts very selfless and gentle towards Mizi, he never does anything that'd.. affect her in a strong sense except for trying to express his feelings through music. While Ivan pokes, punches, grabs, kisses his love to get his attention, Till tends to blush and run away. This guy is very aware of what his feelings towards Mizi is, yet I think he understood his position and how much Mizi loves Sua so he keeps at a distance. His commentary about Mizi is that he believes "she's the most beautiful being in the entire universe and he felt reborn when she smiled at him." Oh wait?? he's an INFP??? REALLY??? Looking at the artbook and..;;hshshg to imagine an INFP acting like him.. oh, he must have suffered A LOT;; I guess he was always on edge in those harsh conditions then. His feelings towards Mizi didn't really come across so much either, as it is said she thought Till was evading her, she wanted to be more friendly with him being the jolly and sweet person she is though.

The outcome for these two are very similar but different. When I watched Till's fate..(yeah, I was shocked he almost NEVER stood a chance against Luka despite how good he is too;;) I think I felt sad, but I was.. also happy for him that he realized Mizi does genuinely care for him. What Ivan got wasn't mutual, Till didn't understand.. and he was engraved, but as a source of trauma (I find this inevitable though seeing how that stage played out). Mizi smiled at Till and he was so happy to see her again he immediately lit up and tried to reach out to her while the stage was still going on, their eyes meet, the way Ivan and Till did on the previous stage, but it was welcoming and out of glee. Of course the one Mizi loves is Sua, but it was sweet to see Mizi really caring for Till as a friend. He's also what she's wanted to save, and Till was suffering after he thought Mizi was gone, but he got that sense of relief in his last moments. There was a comment I found that I found was quite insightful about this situation. He doesn't ask much in return, he always was that person that'd accept and appreciate what she gave him. Was that really enough for Till? I'm not sure but, he was still happy from everything Mizi had given him. I do see Ivan having a harder time being the same way because Till would have been so focused on Mizi to look back at him if he was as passive and accepting as Till was to her, and besides, I think the type of "love" they have may not exactly be the same although it can be categorized as "love". "Love" comes in many different forms and it grew in ways that were affected by their environment and personalities. I appreciate how that was depicted. I feel Till's love towards Mizi is just as powerful as Ivan's love towards Till was, it displays the different types of one-sided love.

I can talk about Sua and Mizi's dynamic too, with that I'd be talking about all the four major ships (I talked about Hyuna and Luka in another post earlier!) but maybe I'll do that another time.

However, I'd still like to mention what I found interesting in the artbook! They say that Sua wanted to protect Mizi's naivety and shield her from reality, because she found salvation in it. It was a place of escape for her, they say (p44) she gave Mizi hope that there would be a good ending, and that's how Mizi completely broke down the moment Sua was gone. Mizi really didn't see it coming while Sua actually did as she sang. Sua wanted to remain in that moment forever with Mizi, they say (p39) she depended on Mizi as much as Mizi did for her. The artbook gives out a really good insight in terms of about how the characters feel about things and it's very colorful and thick and great to see in general, so I recommend you to buy it if you are interested in the series. I'm not a hardcore fan of this piece (yet) but it was still worth every penny to me so, I bet it'd be a gem for those who really care for it~

[into-fiction]

I'm interested in the time-traveling au ideas!!!

I've read a lot of Glinda time-travelling aus and they're all starting to blur together at this point lol, but I would still read it if you have something unique and interesting tho!! Like maybe time traveller Glinda still has anxiety and is over-thinking every little changes she makes, or maybe she decides <i>not</i> to befriend Elphaba and try to take down morrible and the wizard all on her own

I've never read a time travel au with both Glinda and Elphaba as time travellers before tho, that could be interesting!!

Maybe it could be them before For Good (song not movie), like maybe around the cat fight or before Fiyero went with Elohaba. Where they haven't seen eachother for years, where Elphaba thinks Glinda actually believes all the propaganda stuff she says in front of the crowds and she feels like she cant trust Glinda with helping her take the Wizard down.

Glinda and Elphaba going back to the quiet nights in the dorm room that were usually the filled with shared secrets, and realize they dont know anything about each other anymore.

They’re strangers with a history.

I saw someone say that in For Good (song), Glinda becomes someone who could have considered going with Elphaba in Defying Gravity while Elphaba becomes someone who would have considered staying.

This is before that, they time travel with a Glinda who still thinks they should work with the system to bring it down from the inside while this is an Elphaba who still thinks they should rebel. And they both disagree with each other because neither of them are seeing results from the other.

And maybe eventually, they'll see that it's necessary to try to take the system down both from the inside and outside, but they need to work together in an organized manner.

ooo i love your brain!

i have yet to read any time travel fics (on my list tho!) so I'm not sure what the overall themes are in this fandom! but i can try and say what I've been thinking so far (no true plot, just thoughts).

for glinda by herself:

i have a fondness for 'elphie trying to figure out glinda' stories and i think post-canon glinda is esp fun to play with. i have a few headcanons i'd want to throw in (that she's terrified of morrible, that she's still traumatized by elphie's death, etc). i think all my glinda's have anxiety so that's kinda a given.

if it were elphie pov, i feel it would be easier to explore the way a post-canon glinda interacts with the world and people around her.

if it were glinda pov, i feel it would be easier to explore time travel lore and themes of loss.

(there's a certain tragedy in just-glinda time travel bc even if there's a happy ending, it's not a happy ending with her elphie. I'm not afraid of a bit of tragedy tho)

for both of them together:

i had a couple people suggest they shouldn't know they both are back at first! which i could see being either a very funny or very angsty. either way, it would definitely add some obstacles.

the nice part about both together is that its the right elphie. and depending on where in the timeline you pluck them from, there's a lot of room to explore the gelphie dynamic both in and post canon.

also i get hooked on ages/timeline shit so the idea of them suddenly being in younger bodies, having the muscle memory & magical control that goes with that, etc is very fun to me.

your idea:

i feel like the concept of it being pre For Good gelphie is honestly really cool! if u don't mind, i actually think it works better as a time loop au over time travel?? in like a 'they both try their way and neither one works and they just keep trying till they realize they have to work together' type way.

but ALSO- a time travel fic where they lowkey kinda hate each other would be super fucking fun to explore.

[barblaz-arts]

What do you think of the Alastor x Lucifer Ship?

I'm not like a full on stan because

1) I quite like Lucilith, even if it's more because of the concept. The beauty in an angel and human loving each other after losing each of their "paradise" in Hell of all places is romantic af. The many parallels they have with Chaggie leaves for lots of speculation for interesting events that could unfold. Seeing more of Chaggie's romance could be the key to Lucifer and Lilith getting back together, or if not then healing as individuals after falling out of love for the person that used to make hell home.

2) I get that an ace character doesn't necessarily mean they can't do romance, but Alastor just personally doesn't strike me as someone I could ship with anyone. At best I'd ship him with Rosie, but even then they're more like besties to me.

3) I don't usually like the enemies to lovers trope if it's just for the sake of shipping characters that hate each other in canon. If there isn't any hint of them even respecting each other, i dont really see much potential for romance(yet!)

I don't hate it as much as, like, Charl*stor tho. At the very least there isn't any of that icky feeling I get at the thought of it. Charlie's just too much of a sweetheart for Alastor and their interactions canonically involve Alastor taking advantage of Charlie in some way. Lucifer is basically a jaded version of Charlie tho, and that would leave for a more interesting dynamic that wouldn't make me feel uncomfortable.

Honestly I don't hate the ship at all. There's a few posts i like. Especially the hilarious ones. Also kinda funny how the two most popular ships that include an ace character both has him being a Morningstar homewrecker 💀